RSS FeedLYNYRD SKYNYRD PLANE CRASH SITE. GILLSBURG, MISSISSIPPI
Friday, April 13, 2007
My wife and I traveled to visit my 95 year old Grandmother in DeRidder, Louisiana on April, 13 2007. That is another great story!!! After talking with my good friend Steve Martin in Mathews, North Carolina and studying the map I realized Gillsburg was only about an hour north of Interstate 12.
On our return trip we went straight up Interstate 55 from Interstate 12 at Hammond, Louisiana. I have always heard that the new owner did not allow anyone on his property that he had purchased from Johnny Mote. Mr. Mote was the owner of the land at the time of the October 20, 1977 plane crash.
We arrived at Gillsburg, which is a crossroads with a few houses and an old café that had not been open in years. About two miles beyond that point I spotted a farmer traveling down his driveway towards the road. I stopped him and inquired about the crash site. He said it was all grown up and the present owner would not let anyone near the crash site. He gave us directions and we were off on the hunt. Fortunately I had a rental car, because the dirt road we traveled down was not well maintained as well as not being the correct way to the site. We turned around and headed beyond where he told us to turn and finally came upon “Gene’s Grocery”. Imagine that.
Debra Moore was behind the counter and told me that no one was allowed on the property. Seated at a small booth in the store was Jimmy Stewart, a long time resident of Gillsburg who assisted in removing five victims from the horrible scene. I got a cup of coffee and almost left without paying. As we talked, the phone rang and at first I was not paying a lot of attention. I over heard Debra saying that “I have a couple here who would like to see property where the crash occurred”. The lady on the other end of the phone was the owner of the property.
The next thing I know we are at the owners home. Mr. Nyugen was trying to crank a merry tiller. I introduced myself and told him why I was there. Evidently he knew nothing about the earlier phone conversation. He told me nothing was there, thirty years had passed etc. I could see he was not interested in what I was.
About this time I saw his wife through the kitchen window and we both waved at each other. She immediately came out spoke quickly to her husband in their native tongue and Wow what a change in venue. Like I have always said, “Thank God for Women”. The next thing I know we are being given a personal escort to the site.
They were very nice and told us to stay as long as we wanted.
Barbara and I walked all around. We both noticed how peaceful and tranquil the place was. I had not realized they had only missed the field by less than 50 feet. This entire area only changed by nature. It was a time to wonder, a time to question, a time to ponder. It was something I never will forget….. I can tell you I had mixed emotions that can only be understood by Lynyrd Skynyrd fans. I will let the pictures tell the rest of our experience and of course you know the rest of the story……..
-Billy Webb
This is the field the pilot was trying to land the plane. The far right corner about 50 feet into the woods is where the plane came to rest. |
This shot is right at the edge of the field |
This is all that is left of the monument that was built for the concert with Artimus Pyle and Travis Tritt |
This is the spot where the plane came to rest on that fateful flight of October 20, 1977 |
The spot where Lynyrd Skynyrd plane came to rest almost 30 years later. This area is unchanged except by nature. |
This shot facing the west was almost completely covered. |
The trees still bear the many tributes fans have carved in them over the years. |
Many people have made the journey to this spot over the years to pay their respects. |
A very peaceful place now, in deep contrast to the horrible tragedy that occurred on October 20, 1977. |
Fly on Free Bird!!!!!!! |
Gene’s Grocery is about 1 Mile from the October 20, 1977 Lynyrd Skynyrd Band crash site. |
That is amazing.I could only imagine the feeling you had.I would think there would be a great sense of sadness,but also a sense of closeness to ronnie steve and cassie.And alot of questions of why it had to happen, why couldn’t they have just made it to that field.I would love to go there,too bad I never will be able to,I am sure if I did go I would always remember it and be glad I went but,also it would be really emotional.It is just so amazing how many lives they have touched,thousands of us fans love them so much we feel like family just like we really knew them.I wasn’t even born until 7 years after the plane crash and I only wish I could go back in time and see them live.
Comment by jennlynn84 — May 3, 2007 @ 12:44 pm
Thank you very much for posting these pics. I leve about 35 miles from the crash site and have never gotten the urge to go. I just feel sick and empty inside when I think about it. You have helped me to sort of visit without going. As I get older, maybe I’ll change my mind, but for now I’m satisfied.
thanks again!
Scott
Comment by the1percent — May 8, 2007 @ 9:26 am
Billy, Thanks so much for sharing your experience here! I will be heading to Gillsburg on Thursday enroute to Memphis from New Orleans during my vacation. I wanted to try to see if the Nyugen’s will be as accomodating to me as they were to you. Like I mentioned to you, I would never want to be bothersome, or irratate anyone. I only want to get to the crash site to pay my respects, and take some pictures for memory sake. Thanks for talking to me, and wish me luck. I will post a message after I return home to Jersey sometime after the 12th. I am thinking about showing the Nyugen’s my respect for them by showing up with a gift basket and if they still do not want me on their land, I will absolutely respect that and leave immediately. I will even let them keep the gift basket for even taking the time to allow me to ask to venture to the site. I can imagine that they could get really tired of the attention the crash site gets from Skynyrd diehards, but it would really mean alot to me to get there and pay my respects as you did. Wish me luck, and I will talk to you soon!
Dave aka UpNorthJukin aka Dub
Comment by UpNorthJukin — December 4, 2007 @ 5:13 pm
Amazing story from an amazingly cool guy! I will have more to post as well as some photos that I took on my trip to the crash site. Just stopping in briefly to say Thanks for sharing the story and your time!
Dave
Comment by UpNorthJukin — December 13, 2007 @ 1:18 pm
My girlfriend and I took the trip to Gillsburg yesterday to try and find the crash site. Let me tell you, its not easy at all to find. All I had for info was that it was 8 miles west of the Gillsgurg exit. I figured there would be something to point us in the right direction once we were in the neighborhood…Nothing at all! At one point we were less than a half mile from the crash site and didn’t even know it. I called my dad who started looking online at google maps and he said we were way off. He directed us to Osyka which is east of the highway. We went there and it was obviously not where a plane had ever crashed. I figured we could just stop and ask a local but it was a cool day and not many people were outside. Finally, we fould an old guy who was working on a sign by the road and asked him about a plane crash about 30 years ago…He got kinda quiet and had a somber look in his face. I asked him if he knew where the site was, he says, “oh yeah, I know exactly where it is…I was around back then.” He gives us some directions that included looking for some old chicken houses and we were on our way again. Well, we didn’t see the chicken houses and after another hour we were about to give up. As I was about to make the turn onto the road that would take us back to I-55, I just stopped, waited for some traffic to pass and a car made a turn towards us. I figured what the heck, and wave the guys down, they stopped and I asked them about the plane crash 30 years ago. The guy who was about 40ish says to me, “I was there that night, I was just a kid and my parents wouldn’t let me go back there but I remember the emergency vehicles and the helicopters and all that.” He tells us to driveup the road abit, at the top of the hill go right, drive down there a bit and while he couldn’t remember exactly how to get back there, he suggested we maybe ask someone down that road if we could. We drive down there, see two couples on a golf cart by the side of road and ask, they were younger and had no idea, we kept on. We drove to the end of the road and saw nothing. But we did see a yard sale sign that pointed us back where we came from, so we thought that might be our last hope. We went to the lonely old house that claimed to be having the sale and saw some junk out on a picnic table, after a few minutes some old timer came out and we chatted for a few minutes. I asked him about it and he said it was just a little ways away and he gave us some new directions as well as his memories of the time. He said two years after the crash he was out there and found a big piece of the cockpit instrument panel which he had for years before giving to a friend. He said the land was on private property and we probably shouldn’t go wondering out there uninvited, in Mississippi that could get you shot. He described how to find the owners house and wished us luck. The owners were some asians that had bought the land about five years back. I’ve read about them before and heard they were friendly people. We found the house and I saw two men out there working on a little fish pond they were building. I drove up there and got out of my little sports car and approached them. At first they seemed to be bothered and not so friendly but after a moment of them speaking to each other in their native tongue they warmed up and offered to let us follow them out to the spot. The younger guy says to me, “it’s just a tree.” We followed them across the road out past the chicken houses, down a bad stretch of dirt road to a spot where we parked. We got out and walked 50 feet or so back in the woods and he points one way says the front of the plane was over there and the back was over there. They were very nice and left us out there. We took some pics, walked around for a little bit, found an old ketchup bottle that looked like it had been there for 30 years and wondered if it had been. I examined the tree and the names carved in it. I added my name to it. After about half an hour we left and headed down to New Orleans.
For a while, when we were looking around for this place and not having any luck I was thinking how disappointing it was to drive all this was and not finding it, knowing that I may never find my way to this part of the world again. But now, I think of how perfect it was that it was not easy to find and how when we finally did find it, it was a sight that is almost impossible to imagine as the sight of a horrific plane crash. 31 years had gone by and nature has reclaimed the land and the only reminder of that night is one large tree that has become somewhat of a living memorial. Thats all. Thanks to the kind folks of Mississippi it turned out to be a trip I wont soon forget.
Comment by JayMitch — November 23, 2008 @ 10:46 am
I know this has been a while for this blog, but does anyone have specific directions to the crash sight? I live in MS, and would really like to visit it. Are the owners pretty nice? I would hate to travel all the miles and not be able to find it. The info and pics provided are awesome, this has given me drive to visit this place.
Comment by Jennbar77 — June 1, 2009 @ 10:48 am